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Thursday, August 2, 2012

College Park Prostitution Sting

Prostitution sting arrests

A total of 81 people are under arrest as the result of a prostitution sting in College Park hotels that began August 1st. The Prince George’s County Police District I & IV Special Assignment Teams, Narcotic Enforcement Division & FBI Human Trafficking Unit are collaborating on this enforcement operation.

The PGPD routinely engages in such crime-fighting efforts against prostitution. In the current operation, female officers posing as prostitutes engage the would-be johns over the phone after placing fake ads on websites devoted to solicitation. On Wednesday, in five College Park area hotels, officers arrested 13 men for assignation (the act of meeting up in order to exchange sex for money) and six women on prostitution charges. Both are misdemeanor offenses in the state of Maryland. Today, 11 more men were arrested for assignation and six women for prostitution. All involved are adults.

Prostitution is a gateway to crime

Capt. Leigh Mints said of the operation, “Prostitution is a gateway crime. It can lead to drugs, robberies and shootings. We want to let everyone know this kind of activity is not something we want in this county and we’re doing all we can to prevent it.” Yesterday the department began the process of criminally charging these individuals: